Fluctuate content performance? You're not the only one!
Many business owners do not understand why some of their posts perform well while others flop. That is natural when content is not created with a framework. Content created without a structure does not allow insightful understanding. Unable to spot content patterns, one cannot understand what content performs well and how to scale them for future success.
i) Content Pillars
To be consistent, a brand should have a set of content pillars. They are open-ended topics that the brand can provide information on and is interesting to their target audiences. Content pillars act as the literal pillar to the brand's key message so that all content created supports and reinforces what the brand stands for. Every brand's content pillars are different. However, here is some content that should never be a content pillar for any brand.
No one is interested in company announcements unless you talk about them personally. Audiences are only interested in your achievements if they are given the context of your journey.
Trend-sharing with no insights. Many brands fall into this trap because they want to profit from trending keywords and searches. However, audiences will not spend time on your content unless you provide a content tilt. That means providing personal insights to stand out from other news sources.
Case studies. Contrary to common belief, case studies are only good trigger content for audiences who are already considering purchasing your service or products. If your brand revolves around telling audiences how great your work is, before getting them interested in what you do, it can backfire and make your brand appear self-boasting, highly corporate, and arrogant.
ii) Content Objectives
Many brands create content for the sake of creating. They do not have a clear goal for their content to achieve. Hence, the content they create leads nowhere. Without a clear content objective, it is impossible to assess content performance. Brands do not know what data to analyze, so they can never justify their efforts.
Raise awareness with your content. Create valuable content without mentioning your brand, service, or products. This content should tap into the target audience's interest, presenting yourself as a trusted source of information instead of just another brand. To measure success, look at the number of impressions and reach it generated.
Build interest with your content. Create content that captivates your audiences. Provide unique information, answer questions, and offer help. Usually, interest-driving content is longer forms of content, such as blogs, articles, and videos. To measure success, look at the average time spent on your website and the seconds of video watched.
Call-to-action with your content. Create content that initiates an action. It could be a click, a download, a subscription, etc. Provide clear instructions on where you want your audience to go, what you want them to do, and what you will offer them after they take action. To measure success, look at metrics such as click-through rates and engagement rates.
iii) Content Reviews
The content creation process doesn't stop after a post is published. Instead, you need to go back and observe content metrics every month to spot content patterns, assess performance, understand what works, and create better content in the future.
Record your top 3 posts every month. The easiest way is to pick out the content with the highest reach and engagement rates. See if they share commonalities. Are they from the same content pillar, in the same format, or use a similar visual?
Record your bottom 3 posts every month. The easiest way is to pick out the content with the least amount of reach and lowest engagement rate. See if they share commonalities. Are they from the same content pillar, in the same format, or use a similar visual?
Consolidate your insights and do tests. Try to improve bottom-performing content pillar content with the insights you've gathered from the top 3 posts. Try and scale your top 3 posts by creating posts that follow spotted patterns. Continuously refine and learn from your metrics!
It's a lot of work! But there's a way to tackle them all.
Content marketing is the best way to attain high-performance content. By establishing content pillars (topics that align brand position with target audience interest), content creation becomes systematic.
Content pillars help creators identify which types of content perform the best and teach them to observe, collect, and analyze data. The accumulated experience then informs future content creation direction to achieve desired outcomes.
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